530 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



scented who rules the world, but the clear-headed. 

 Human beings are like pebbles on the sea shore ; by 

 rubbing against each other they become rounded, 

 smooth, polished, symmetrical : alone, they are rough, 

 uncouth, repulsive. 



"Farmers are too much alone. We need to meet 

 together to rub off the rough corners and polish down 

 into symmetry. We want to exchange views, and 

 above all we want to learn to think. A man who has 

 performed fourteen hours of severe physical labor is in 

 no condition to think, and we may as well decide at 

 once that any class of men which starts out in life by 

 working at severe labor fourteen hours of the twenty- 

 four, and faithfully adheres to the practice, will fill for- 

 ever the position of hewers of wood and drawers of 

 water for men who use the God-given mind, and nourish 

 the soul with liberal and abundant mental food. 



" I have already tired your patience, and in closing 

 will only say that in my opinion the coming farmer 

 will not toil with his hands fourteen hours out of the 

 twenty-four and compel wife and children to the same 

 slavery. But he will give a liberal share of his time to 

 thought, study, and recreation. He will know of what 

 his soil is composed, in what it abounds, in what it is 

 deficient. He will know what elements of earth and 

 air are needed to plant growth, and under what con- 

 ditions they can be most readily assimilated. He will 

 understand the laws of plant and animal life, that he 

 may more successfully treat them. His house will be 

 abundantly supplied with books and papers on agricul- 

 tural and matters of general interest. Pictures and 

 abundant amusements will make his home attractive. 

 A beautiful lawn and flower beds, a fruit and vegetable 



